Abstract
Theoretical System of Chinese Painting and Its Criticism, a work by Li Changzhi that engages in painting criticism, is unique and controversial. As a continuation of Chen Shizeng's defense of literati painting, Li Changzhi took a different approach by introducing what he referred to as a “systematic-philosophical” methodology. He not only proposed a systematic framework to examine Chinese painting theory from the perspectives of subjectivity, objects, and tools but also introduced the concept of the sublime to elucidate the characteristics of Chinese painting. Equally convinced by Kant's aesthetics as Wang Guowei, who was vaguely aware of the differences between Chinese and Western paintings and supplemented the latter with the idea of “classical elegance,” Li Changzhi was nevertheless a more devoted follower of Kant. His integration of the “theory of genius” and the “theory of brush and ink” not only strives to incorporate Chinese painting theory into the paradigm of Western aesthetic interpretation but also brings to light the problematics behind this method.
Keywords
Li Changzhi, literati painting, scholar-bureaucrat, sublimity, brush and ink
First Page
12
Last Page
21
Recommended Citation
Lang, Jin. 2024. "Saving Literati Painting from the Sublime: The Aesthetic Strategy in Li Changzhi's Theoretical System of Chinese Painting and Its Criticism." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 44, (5): pp.12-21. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol44/iss5/2
